Expanding Helicopter Pilots Field of View

Night vision has been a key enabling technology for the past 30 years that has allowed US pilots to"own the night". One of the big disadvantages of current night vision systems is that they have not provided pilots with good peripheral vision, since most have a total field of view (TFOV) of only 40 degrees. A large survey of USAF pilots found that the most often requested improvement to night vision goggles was to have a larger field of view. To address this need, SA Photonics is proposing a next generation wide field of view night vision system for helicopter pilots. This system will have both an increased horizontal field of view of up to 120 degrees and an increased vertical field of view of 45 degrees. This system will also provide color symbology and allow for the recording of night vision imagery. SA Photonics"system will have a greatly reduced forward projection over both the AN/AVS-9 and PNVG systems. In addition, stowage is achieved by simply rotating the displays out of the direct field of view. Unlike AN/AVS and PNVG, stowing our system will not change the center of gravity.